tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54862582018-08-13T18:40:27.367-05:00Jay's Movie BlogI see a lot of movies, and have an opinion on most of 'em.Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08878262302237069963noreply@blogger.comBlogger2656125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486258.post-74415938305218660922018-08-13T18:40:00.000-05:002018-08-13T18:40:27.352-05:00The MegStrongly tempted to pair this one with The Island for a "Chinese movies about danger in the middle of the ocean" post, but it's really not Chinese enough, despite the setting, a fair chunk of the cast, and the fact that it certainly seems like a fair chunk of the money came from there. It is, at any rate, probably a better attempt at appealing to "the world market" than most movies clearly made Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08878262302237069963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486258.post-6604920354728936412018-08-11T22:39:00.003-05:002018-08-11T22:39:53.793-05:00The IslandOnly one trailer for another Chinese movie before this one, but it was for Project Gutenberg, which comes out the week of my birthday and features Chow Yun-fat in what seems like his first "coolest damn criminal on Earth" role in quite a while, and, guys, I am there for that. I knew he was filming it and hoped it was heading stateside, but the confirmation felt so very good.
Will it get the Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08878262302237069963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486258.post-62775523666412697592018-08-09T23:08:00.000-05:002018-08-09T23:08:48.275-05:00Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 10 August 2018 - 16 August 2018Late summer means a really random set of movies coming out, from dumpings to not knowing what to do with something to "this might be an awards contender but maybe not".
Since movies aren't listed by genre at the multiplex, Meg the novel has become The Meg the movie, with Jason Statham, Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson, and Ruby Rose crewing an international underwater research facility who are set uponJasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08878262302237069963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486258.post-82486444622496808672018-08-09T09:00:00.005-05:002018-08-09T09:00:59.672-05:00Along with the Gods, Parts 1 & 2Still time to see Part 2 in AMC Boston Common if you can catch a matinee today, but you might have to catch up on the first one first, so good luck with that. Sorry, I'm bee watching a crap-ton of other Asian movies and back to work.
I recommend this as a two-night deal, though i suppose it could work as a marathon. I streamed the first via Amazon on Monday night, lucky enough that it was $5 Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08878262302237069963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486258.post-76776804573973005972018-08-05T23:45:00.000-05:002018-08-05T23:46:05.837-05:00Mission: Impossible - FalloutSeriously, everyone else at eFilmCritic - it's on me to review this? You all do see that I've been kind of busy in Montreal, right? Sheesh!
Heck, I'd barely gotten back to my apartment from Quebec when I turned around to head back to the South Station area so I could see it on the wide Icon-X screen in the Seaport, and though that may not be ideal - I didn't get a whole lot of sleep on the busJasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08878262302237069963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486258.post-78492500013793429012018-08-03T10:12:00.001-05:002018-08-03T10:12:17.491-05:00Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 3 August 2018 - 9 August 2018It's time to see just how useless my MoviePass subscription has become while I was away!
This week's spy movie is The Spy Who Dumped Me, with Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon as two friends who must pick up the slack when one's boring boyfriend turns out to be a secret agent and accidentally pulls her into his business. It's at the Somerville, Fresh Pond, the Embassy, Boston Common, Fenway, the Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08878262302237069963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486258.post-61078814630340598232018-08-03T07:15:00.002-05:002018-08-03T07:22:27.173-05:00Fantasia 2018.21: What A Man Wants, Madeline's Madeline, Big Brother, and Saint Bernard SyndicateDay 21 is the official closing night of Fantasia, and it included an email reminder that, really, you're not getting into Mandy with your pass, although we had been told that they would be admitting press to Big Brother, and tickets could actually be refunded if you came to the box office with it and your pass. I never got around to it, but it's not like I'm in a position to really resent havingJasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08878262302237069963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486258.post-47265733094686277922018-08-01T14:18:00.000-05:002018-08-01T14:19:36.201-05:00Fantasia 2018.20: The Brink, River's Edge, Arizona, and Montreal Dead EndAnother quiet day as the festival winds down and guests from out of town are relatively scant, and there's a temptation to wonder if maybe the festival does run a bit long, but by now there's just a couple days left so why not hit the full three weeks? And, hey, you get some interesting stuff as well.
There being a few reruns means there's time to get actual food, and here is the most amusinglyJasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08878262302237069963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486258.post-55637512411858641802018-07-31T11:50:00.000-05:002018-07-31T11:50:33.902-05:00Fantasia 2018.19: Number 37, Cinderella the Cat, Heavy Trip, and Tokyo Vampire HotelGoing to have to circle back around for Sunday, because it was shorts day, and there's twenty of those things which probably take a half-hour each to write up even if they only lasted five minutes. Remember that the next time you say critics are paid to watch movies - they're paid to write about them. Or not paid but given press passes, as the case may be here.
No guests - the last week of theJasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08878262302237069963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486258.post-26582781835677517522018-07-29T10:53:00.000-05:002018-07-30T10:17:05.580-05:00Fantasia 2018.17: Bleach, Laughing Under the Clouds, Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings, Punk Samurai Slash Down, and TerrifiedThe rare long all-Hall day, although that's in part because I could feel myself winding down during Terrified and wasn't going to swipe a seat from somebody who wouldn't fall asleep during The Oily Maniac. Enjoyably crowded all day, although with a few things seeming to run longer than expected, it was a real into the movie, out to the line, into the movie, repeat, day.
Not a lot of guests Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08878262302237069963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486258.post-32776619052083012982018-07-28T10:38:00.001-05:002018-07-28T22:54:11.707-05:00Fantasia 2018.16: A Rough Draft, Fleuve Noir, and Ajin: Demi-HumanEnough free time in the schedule today that I wonder if there were originally guests expected for Fleuve Noir, only to have something come up after the schedule was set. Weird schedule that kept me from seeing 1987: When the Day Comes, which wound up having both of its shows during the 5pm hour, which is odd itself.
Never look the opportunity to sit down and have a good meal mid-festival in theJasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08878262302237069963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486258.post-46355018289858333502018-07-27T15:46:00.000-05:002018-07-27T22:59:46.463-05:00Fantasia 2018.15: Violence Voyager, Pledge, and DJ XL5's Outtasight Zappin' PartyThere was someone with a kid behind me during Violence Voyager, and though I don't recall hearing them book it out of there when things started getting horrific, I kind of hope they did. The Burning Buddha Man got nasty when it showed five years ago, but this seemed next-level. I'm mildly worried about where the filmmaker's next movie will land.
After that, practically everybody for Pledge Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08878262302237069963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486258.post-31322213592078523952018-07-27T08:22:00.000-05:002018-07-27T08:22:03.318-05:00Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 27 July 2018 - 2 August 2018It'd be a good week for the Dolby screen to open at Assembly Row, but apparently not. Maybe by the time I get home, so I can see Mission: Impossible on that.
That would be Mission: Impossible - Fallout, once again directed by Christopher McQuarrie and featuring Tom Cruise performing amazing stunts in a labyrinthine plot involving face masks, going rogue, all that good stuff. I think it's the Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08878262302237069963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486258.post-51515505833321784042018-07-26T12:05:00.002-05:002018-07-26T12:05:45.150-05:00Fantasia 2018.14: Blue My Mind and Anna and the ApocalypseRemember what I said about patterns being easy to see when you have short schedule days? It was teenage girls having high school go to hell yesterday. I can't say I loved Blue My Mind, but it's not exactly for me in one sense, though I suppose it is in terms of "hey, teenage girls spend a lot of time freaked out over their changing bodies and identities, so cut them more slack than Mia's fatherJasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08878262302237069963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486258.post-5226659707897857472018-07-26T08:42:00.003-05:002018-07-26T08:42:46.889-05:00Salyut-7Finding yourself with a surprisingly short day at the film festival and deciding to fit another movie in there may be signs that You Have A Problem, but I offer two things in my defense: First, it was a rainy evening but my rented apartment would probably be too hot to stay in. Second, when someone contrives to open a 3D movie about real-life adventure in Earth orbit within walking distance of Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08878262302237069963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486258.post-2370431147667820662018-07-25T19:10:00.000-05:002018-07-25T23:23:43.595-05:00Fantasia 2018.13: Chained for Life, Da Hu Fa, and BodiedUsed to be three-film days were not unusual at Fantasia, but the schedule is really packed to the gills now; it's a bit rare to have this short a day, but it's neat, sometimes, to see a theme emerge, even if it's kind of inadvertent. Starting the day with Chained for Life and ending with Bodied is a good bookend of fumbling with the idea that most of us - in particular, most of us going to Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08878262302237069963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486258.post-89036446824158260102018-07-24T13:55:00.000-05:002018-07-24T13:55:04.418-05:00Fantasia 2018.12: The Dark, I Am a Hero, Luz, The Witch in the Window, and InuyashikiMonday, apparently, is the day you want to come to Fantasia if you like seeing directors talk about their movies.
That there is The Dark director Justin P. Lange on the right. He made a pretty nifty movie with enough sharp turns that it made my general plan of "see as many movies as possible at the festival without researching unless you need to resolve conflicts" seem pretty clever, because Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08878262302237069963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486258.post-18284773556272021932018-07-23T10:26:00.000-05:002018-07-24T12:09:39.226-05:00Fantasia 2018.11: Fireworks, Loi Bao, Our House, The Witch: Part 1 - The Subversion, and ParallelThe weekend is for starting out in Hall and ending up in DeSève, while the week goes the other way. Thus the expected big crowd for Fireworks (which I'm guessing either didn't play Canada/Quebec earlier in the month or folks just waited for it to play this room) and a fair-sized one for Lôi Báo, an okay superhero movie I believe was Vietnam's sole representation here. Kind of neat, although I Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08878262302237069963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486258.post-92206526658150417132018-07-22T10:41:00.001-05:002018-07-22T10:45:21.217-05:00Fantasia 2018.10: The Traveling Cat Chronicles, The Outlaws, Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires, Knuckleball, Amiko, and RokuRoku: Promise of the WitchSometime I've got to go back over my old Fantasia programs and blogs to see if the makeup of the festival is changing, or at least what I see - this one has been pretty Japan-heavy, but that always seems to have been the case. I tend to think it's got something to do with more top-tier stuff from China and Korea getting regular releases (I've already seen two of this year's Korean movies), but Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08878262302237069963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486258.post-43889892677366969322018-07-21T10:36:00.000-05:002018-07-21T10:36:21.224-05:00Fantasia 2018.09: People's Republic of Desire, Cam, Kasane, and The Man Who Killed Hitler and then The BigfootNifty scheduling: People's Republic of Desire and Cam back-to-back The first actually serves as a sort of primer for how rank- and gift-based the live-stream economy is, and they wind up touching on some overlapping information while still having very different themes it is a good, interesting double feature.
Less-nifty scheduling: Kasane and Lifechanger at the same time. As a person who Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08878262302237069963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486258.post-86892359143327675672018-07-20T11:34:00.000-05:002018-07-20T11:34:26.756-05:00Fantasia 2018.08: Hurt, Under the Silver Lake, Laplace's WitchDid a press screening today, and it was weird - about ten people in the Hall theater for a horror movie, which tend to work much better with a big audience. It would have been even stranger if we were all clustered in the same area because we all think the sweet spot is in the same place, but it didn't happen.
After that, I kind of killed time in the afternoon because Blue My Mind would have Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08878262302237069963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486258.post-15138281894379007252018-07-20T07:38:00.001-05:002018-07-20T07:38:39.801-05:00Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 20 July 2018 - 26 July 2018Yeah, I'm in Montreal, but it's still good to keep an eye on what's opening back home, even if it's to try and estimate whether something will still be around by the time I get home or if I should try and hit the Forum or something.
Fortunately, the brace of sequels this week doesn't make me feel any sort of obligation. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again reunites the original cast as well as some new Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08878262302237069963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486258.post-65395841322205007202018-07-19T12:41:00.000-05:002018-07-19T12:41:18.332-05:00Fantasia 2018.07: Boiled Angels: The Trial of Mike Diana, I Have a Date with Spring, The Vanished, and BuyBustHuh, I could have sworn that folks from Boiled Angels were here as guests, but I guess that's just for the first show. I'd take the excuse to stay in Montreal for four days and maybe use my cast & crew pass to see a bunch of free movies, but what do I know?
I Have a Date with Spring director Baek Seung-bin stuck around for a second screening on Wednesday after his movie played Monday, though.Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08878262302237069963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486258.post-69251449183135639552018-07-18T13:28:00.002-05:002018-07-18T13:28:48.815-05:00Fantasia 2018.06: Mega Time Squad, Room Laundering, and The Blonde FuryMonday could have made Tuesday really short, but I actually kind of like that I had the big gap between Mega Time Squad from 1pm to 3pm and Room Laundering at 7:25pm - it's entirely possible I would have sat at the computer straight through the afternoon rather than heading down to Pointe-a-Callaire, having some ice cream, and just relaxing like I'm on vacation.
That's Mega Time Squad directorJasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08878262302237069963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5486258.post-58473507961136319852018-07-17T15:05:00.000-05:002018-07-17T15:05:12.230-05:00Fantasia 2018.05: Relaxer, Being Natural, Neomanila, and ProfileCan't say I really liked the first movie I saw today, but an entertaining Q&A helps it go down better.
That is Camera Lucida programmer Ariel Esteban Coyer flanked by Relaxer director Joel Potrykus and co-star David Dastmalchian, who both talked about how growing up in the midwest had them both very familiar with this culture of challenges and constantly needing to prove themselves, with Jasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08878262302237069963noreply@blogger.com0